The invention relates generally to an apparatus for sharpening knife blades or other cutting implements, and more particularly to such an apparatus which is manually operable and has an abrading assembly that is slidably movable in engagement along the knife blade or other cutting implement for abradingly forming a sharpened cutting edge portion thereon.
Various devices have been provided for forming a sharpened cutting edge portion on a knife blade or other cutting implement and are available in a wide variety of types and configurations. Many of such devices are powered by electric current and thus suffer the disadvantage of being unusable in remote areas where electric power is not available. Other prior sharpening devices are manually operated, but are frequently expensive and relatively cumbersome to use.
With regard to other prior sharpening devices that are portable and lightweight, it is known to use a pair of separate gripping fingers to clamp a knife blade to be sharpened, with the fingers being clamped together via a fastener assembly. In the present invention, however, the fingers are pivotally hinged together to facilitate handling. In addition a resilient member urges and holds the two gripping fingers apart to assist in the insertion of the blade between the fingers. The fingers are also provided with confronting ridges, which define a stop, and locating surfaces which assist in aligning the blade to be sharpened.
In the present invention, the gripping fingers are part of a frame assembly. A separate abrading means (which includes abrading members on a support rod) is pivotally and slidably engageable with guide means on the frame assembly for guiding and maintaining the abrading means in a substantially constant angular relationship with the cutting edge as the abrading means is moved along the cutting edge. Preferably, the sharpening apparatus of the present invention includes means for altering or adjusting the angular relationship between the abrading means and the cutting edge in order to accommodate cutting implements of various sizes or configurations while still maintaining a substantially constant angular relationship between the abrading means and the cutting implement during sharpening. The preferred abrading means comprises an abrading assembly having a number of axially aligned abrading members on a single rod, each of which has a different grit or coarseness in order to allow the user to initially perform relatively coarse abrading operations on the cutting edge portion of the cutting implement and to finish the sharpening operation with a relatively fine abrading member, thereby achieving a smooth, sharp cutting edge. Since the abrading members are axially aligned on a single rod the sharpening operation can be completed without the need to use a plurality of abrading means and with a minimum amount of manipulation of the support rod.
Since the apparatus is operated manually, one of the objectives of the present invention is to provide such a shield-like structure wherein the user's hands are substantially protected from the cutting edge being sharpened. As will be seen, by locating the abrading members in axial alignment, the shield can be made substantially wide to enhance protection of the operator's hand.
The preceding are some of the features of the present invention. Additional objects, advantages, and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.